David Miliband seeks to shake off Blairite image in leadership pitch

David Miliband formally declares his intention to stand for the leadership of the Labour party. Photograph: Scott Heppell/AP

David Miliband made his first detailed pitch for the Labour leadership today, saying the party had to "reform, repair and reconnect" in opposition.

Speaking in his South Shields constituency, the former foreign secretary said Labour's connection with voters had broken down.

In an apparent attempt to shake off his Blairite image, Miliband praised the achievements of his predecessors but said New Labour had to be replaced by "next Labour".

Miliband first announced his intention to stand for the leadership of the Labour party last Wednesday, in what commentators regarded as a lacklustre press conference outside the House of Commons.

In a speech that was seen as an attempt to breathe life into his campaign, Miliband told an audience of party activists today that Labour had to accept that it lost the election badly.

"I think that our conversation with the public broke down. That's essentially what I think happened. We have to restart that conversation with the most precious asset that each and every one of us has in this room.

"It's an asset that our idealism makes us believe that the future can be better than the past. We've got a responsibility to make it so. That idealism is the lifeblood of our party. We don't believe that you can build heaven on earth. But we do believe that you have a responsibility to try."

Miliband said Labour should not allow the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives to "steal" the progressive label. Voters had not rejected progressive politics, but they had questioned "whether the Labour party could be the vehicle for taking those values and those ideals forward".

He said there were silver linings to the election defeat, but that Labour had gone down to a significant defeat. "We were not sent into retirement, but we were sent for serious rehabiliatation."

He listed failures of the general election campaign, including failure to boast about saving the NHS, being late to the immigration debate and losing "focus on education and anti-social behaviour".

He described his brother and rival for the post, Ed Miliband, as "a huge talent" and said he was "very proud" of him. Miliband also spoke fondly of his Marxist father Ralph: "'My oh my,' he must be thinking. 'What did I do wrong? Two MPs in a Labour cabinet.'"

In a 25-minute speech, which ended with a standing ovation from the audience and a hug from his wife, Louise, he stated he would run a clean campaign, without negative briefings against his rival candidates.

He praised the past two Labour leaders: "Tony Blair over 10 remarkable years and Gordon Brown, with historic courage, ability, insight, in three very difficult years, have made Britain better."

After the speech, Miliband insisted the contest would not damage his family. He said: "Our family is more important than politics and we are absolutely determined that it won't get in the way. Ed is extremely talented and has made his own decision to run.

"He is going to be a brother I love at the end of the campaign, whatever happens. My mum is not the abstaining type but she's abstaining on this one."

Asked if "next Labour", a phrase from his speech, would be the party's new slogan, he replied: "We are proud of what we have achieved, we are humble about our mistakes but we don't want to live in the past.

"Next Labour is about listening and engaging first, then giving real shape and real substance to the offer we are going to make to the public at the next general election."

He said the lesson from Blair and Brown's leaderships was they were best when at "their most authentic".

About this article

David Miliband seeks to shake off Blairite image in leadership pitch

This article was published on
the Guardian website
at 10.16 EDT on Monday 17 May 2010.
It was last modified at 17.21 EDT on Wednesday 11 June 2014.
It was first published at 09.48 EDT on Monday 17 May 2010.